Book of Necromancy: Chapter 01
Xavier was looking at his old village from a distance. His demon companion, Grim, was waiting for him to say so to turn that place into ruin.
Suddenly Xavier turned around walking in the other direction.
"Hey. The village is this way" Grim called at his friend trying to grab his attention.
"We'll leave this place for now" Xavier replied without looking back and still walking, "We should go to the nearby city for a few things. Heard there are a few mystic shops, I need to get some arcane books and artifacts"
Grim followed the young sorcerer, a bit upset that they didn't get to level the village to the ground.
A few miles away from Elodora, a decent sized city, filled with all kinds of shops and a trading post to many merchants, with a harbor making it one of the biggest trading posts in the city.
A small group of travelers were making their way to city.
Five people, a red and gold scaled Draken male warrior, a human female archer, another human male warrior, an male elf mage, and a black Felin brawler.
The draken, being the tallest of the group bent forward slightly to the mage, "Are you sure this is the place, Darius?"
The elf replied without looking back to him, "I'm not, but I had a vision that some great evil will fall on this city, the people might be in grave danger. That's why we have to investigate Greedo"
The two humans looked at each other a little bit worried, and the felin was showing determination to expose the said evil and exterminate it.
A few miles behind them was Xavier, Grim nowhere to be seen.
"What is so important in this city anyway?" Grim's voice called inside Xavier's mind.
"Don't know honestly, we might find something interesting while we're shopping" Xavier had a soft smile on his face.
Elodora was pretty big up-close.
Lots of shops were lining the streets, people from different species and backgrounds came to this place.
The group found a tavern and sat at a table ordering some food and drinks, while Darius booked some rooms for them.
Just then, a stranger walked into the tavern.
The group and many people in the tavern looked at him, some with curiosity and others with suspicion, the travelers were among the suspicious.
The guy was wearing black and silver clothing, and a hooded mantle made completely of black feathers, electing some angry looks from the avians there.
He went straight to the bartender, "A room for one please good sir"
The bartender gave him a price, and the young man paid him, with a generous tip.
He went straight to his room after taking the key.
The group and people went back to there earlier conversations, but Darius kept watching the guy closely noticing a black book with a horned beastiel skull on the front cover, wrapped with silver chains.
He went back to the group and gave them three keys, "Greedo and I will share room, the same with Percival and Ketram" the male human and felin, "Saia being the only female in the group gets her own room"
They ordered some drinks and started a conversation, but the feeling of dread still crept on Darius' spine.
Up in his room, Xavier changed to more comfortable lighter clothing.
"You can come out now Grim"
The black book he carried was laying on the bed.
It suddenly began shaking lightly, before stretching an bending.
The skull rose and floated the book was swallowed by darkness, then took the shape of a small imp and merged with the mask, finally revealing Grim.
"Finally, was getting slightly cramped there"
Xavier laid back on his bed, with his hands behind his head, "Don't worry, I put a sound proof spell around the room, so you can relax for a bit"
Grim laid on his stomach over Xavier's own, "Then we can have some fun, eh?"
Xavier noticed the mischievous tone in Girim's voice, "Oh? You know...I believe we can" He lifted his body up, "But not now"
Grim's jaw dropped, and began to stutter trying to talk to Xavier, but no proper sound came out.
Xavier got up and wore a black and silver coat, also with a hood, and walked out, Grim following closely behind.
In the market, the travelers were shopping around for some new equipment.
After a few hours of shopping, the group met in the city's plaza, showing each other the stuff they bought.
But suddenly.
"MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY, the revered leader of the Kroutian Army is coming through, MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY"
The group looked in the direction of the person who was yelling.
A group of royally dressed personell were strolling around the market area, four, presumably the leaders, were riding on horse like creatures, while others walked on foot.
Three males and one female.
One of the males was on the chubby side and was a bit taller than the rest, he wore green and gold armor with a black and green helmet, and carried a big mace with him.
Another one was presumably a magician, had a huge black beard, wearing a yellow and orange robe, with a silk golden scarf on his shoulders, and a staff with different colored stones hovering around a bigger white stone.
The third was younger looking than the other two, a black and blue light armor, and a blue feather helmet, a long spear held behind his back.
The female wore purple and pink clothing, she was beautiful with white hair, and a thorny whip on her hips.
The people around them were kneeling on their knees, the group knew who they were, kneeled along with the people.
The big man addressed the people, "Listen up people, our war against the demon horde had left us short on supplies and men, so from tomorrow we will begin collecting able men to fight along with us, and whoever doesn't abide to our demands will be considered a traitor and a demon collaborator, we will also need many supplies and provisions for the coming war, who doesn't give us will also be considered a traitor, so if you require our help and protection, we advise you to help us with everything you got, that is all"
They then made their way to the other side of the city.
The people began muttering worriedly among each other.
Darius and his group looked at each other with the same amount of worry.
Saia was the first one to speak, "You think they're going to force us to join?"
Greedo crossed his arms with an angry huff, "We wouldn't have a choice with those conditions, and I bet they placed some guards around the city to prevent anyone from escaping"
Ketram was getting annoyed, "But they can't do this, we are strangers to this city, and these people obviously don't want to fight"
The group began discussing how to leave the city undetected, the last thing they wanted is to be dragged into a war they know nothing about.
Unknown to them and the people, a figure was leaning on a wall in a distance, with a smile showing very sharp teeth.
Xavier was almost ecstatic with how things turned out, the chubby and oldie aside, the woman and young man looked worthy of his precious time.
"See Grim? Told you something interesting was going to happen sooner or later"
Grim despite being expressionless the glee was evident in his eyes, "This almost worth missing our fun time together.....almost"
Two nights later.
Darius and his group left the tavern, making their way cautiously to the city gates.
Before they left, Darius cast an cloaking spell on him and his party, they have to move fast since the spell has a time limit.
The fastest way was through the plaza.
When they arrived, they found lots of Kourtian guards.
Percival looked back at Darius, "What now?"
Darius instantly analyzed the surroundings and came up with a solution, "Split up and go to the exit, we'll meet at the sign located a few miles from the city"
Saia didn't like the idea, "No, that's too dangerous"
"It's the only way"
The group reluctantly agreed, and began executing the plan.
Simultaneously the group scattered around and made their way to the exit, everyone hoping for the others' safety.
A few minutes later, Ketran and Greedo were the first to arrive at their meeting destination, they waited nearby for the others.
Darius arrived next, followed moments later by Percival.
Percival was looking around for his sister, "Where is Saia?"
Darius shook his head sadly and the other two didn't answer.
He began to turn back, "I'm going to get her"
Greedo grabbed his arm, "Are you insane? You'll be captured"
"She's my sister"
"She's not a weakling, have more faith in her Percival" Darius' soft tone calmed him down slightly.
They waited for a few hours but Saia still didn't show up.
"That's it, I'm going back"
"Wait" Darius held him back with a binding spell this time.
"What are you doing Darius? I have to go back, she's my sister"
"We can't go in without a plan, she might be facing some issues escaping, and would arrive soon" He released his spell, "Which is why I suggest we split into two groups, in the morning, Greedo and I will go back into the city to look for Saia, Percival and Ketram stay here"
"WHAT!?"
"Percival. When we go in we don't want to draw unwanted attention, a lunatic walking around asking about a girl is a sure way to get the guards on our tail"
Percival reached for his sword, to find Greedo's broadsword on his neck in an instance, "Drop it Percival, Darius is right and you of all people know it"
He reluctantly let go of his sword and releasing a heavy sigh.
Back in the city.
The Kourtian guards caught a young woman and were leading her to a jail cell in the city's prison.
There Saia saw a lot of people of all ages were held there.
'They must be others who tried to escape like us'
Those were her thoughts as the guards threw her in one of the empty cells.
She leaned on the wall and grabbed her knees, silently wishing for the safety of her brother and the others.
A pair of red eyes, were supervising the cellblock from the shadows before disappearing.
Back in Xavier's room, Grim almost jumped from under the bed and on to the young sorcerer, "All is set"
"Good job" he patted the imp's head lightly, Grim's tail wagging back and forth, "You deserve a reward"
At that statement, Grim's tail perked straight up and pounced on Xavier, sounds of rough housing could be heard lightly from their room.
A few days later.
The people who were clever enough to stay, were gathered in the plaza, where a stage like structure was erected.
The group were disguised with their weapons hidden, and mixed with the crowd.
A few murmurs of confusion were sounding all around, just as the chubby leader of the Kouratian army rose on the stage, his fellow commanders stood on the side.
He cleared his throat before speaking, "My good citizens, we are very happy to see that some of you have agreed to stay and help us in our battle against the demons" His face turned into a deep scowl, "But I'm afraid to inform that some were thinking of deserting your kingdom and leaving it to the beasts of the Inferno to feast upon" As he was speaking, the caught prisoners were herded on to the pedestal, Saia was among them.
"Saia-" before he could charge forward, Greedo and Ketram managed to grab his arms and hold him.
The commander continued, "We caught these traitors a few nights ago, trying to escape and leave you all to die" He signaled the guards to force a middle aged canid to his knees in front of him, he then drew his large sword, "These demonstrations will show you the fate of all deserters and traitors" he raised his sword high, ready to strike.
The disguised travelers were ready to draw their weapons.
Just then, everyone heard a happy whistling tune.
Everyone turned to a young boy with black and silver clothing sitting casually on the fountain's edge.
The woman commander signaled for some guards to get him.
When they approched, one of them spoke with as much authority as he can muster, "Hey, get up. Everyone is supposed to join early."
The young man looked at him with uninterested eyes, "Why should I? You're just executing some stupid lowlifes, why should I care?" He began cleaning his ear with a pinkie, "Besides, I just came to accommodate to your useless begging"
A loud round of gasps sounded from the crowd.
"Begging!?" The bearded commander stood from his place and made his way hastily to the young man, "We are the second platoon of the great Kourtian imperial army, we don't beg and plead for you lower beings" He was now face to face with the young stranger, "Your kind were born to serve us, we were born as royal entities destined to rule this realm, the mere thought of merely asking your kind for directions is simply disgusting. Now you better crawl on your knees and kneel before our gracious and beautiful commander Lotus, and beg for her forgiveness for you insolence"
The young man pulled his pinkie from his ears, rolling up the gathered wax before flicking it at the elder mage.
This was the last straw.
The mage drew his staff, and fired an explosive spell destroying the fountain entirely.
The people looked with horror as he incinerated the young man with no second thought.
As the mage was making his way back to the gathered crowd clearly pleased with his work.
He heard a light chuckle, which soon turned into a light laugh.
"Is this all you got, oh great royal entity"
He turned back to see the young man dusting himself casually and completely unharmed.
He staggered back slightly, "B-b-b-but that's impossible. That was a high tier fire spell, nothing should be left"
"You're joking right? I barely felt anything"
"How dare you make fun of a superior being!? You should be trembling in fear of my mighty power--"
Before he could carry on, he felt a hand grasp his throat.
The young man was holding his throat hard with an unimpressed look on his face, "flap flap flap flap, those lips just flap too much. You really like to talk don't you?" He face was slowly forming an evil smirk, "I bet it caused you too much trouble when you were young" He tightened his hand, "Let me help you with that"
He tightened his fist hard.
A loud sound of *crack* was heard among the crowd.
And the mage's body went limp.
The man had a gleeful expression, "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Silence for a few seconds, "Hey what's wrong? You dead?" He shook the body slightly, "Yep he's dead" He then threw the body aside like a ragdoll.
Before he noticed, he was surrounded by many Kourtian guards.
The big commander stood forward, fury evident on his face, "You will pay for this you worm"
"Sorry, I don't have any creds on me"
He signaled for the surrounding guards to attack.
The young man pulled out a black bladed sword, with a silver and black skull on its base.
He dodged and danced his way around their attacks before striking.
With one swing he sliced two guards in half, he twirled his blade backwards, stabbing a supposed attacker behind him.
He pulled a gun from his belt, and shot three guards with perfect headshots.
One by one, the remaining guards fell to their deaths, and the commanders could not do anything but watch.
When he finished with the guards he turned his head to the commanders, "Who's next?"
The large man and the young one stood forward, with their weapons ready.
The young man was ready to strike.
Just then he felt a sharp pain in his back.
He turned back to find the woman commander brandishing her whip.
"Three against one? Don't you think this isn't fair?"
"For a maggot like you, we will make an exception"
She struck again with her whip, only to find a black hand grabbing it.
"What the!?"
A demonic voice called out, "How about we even the odds?"
Just then, a big demonic skull appeared followed by its body.
The demon was tall and thin, with skeletal armor covering it's body, and a red cloth covering it's lower regions, huge clawed hands, and digigrade legs.
The demon threw the whip back at the woman, before turning and charging at the large commander.
With him occupied, the confident challenger focused on the young warrior and the woman, "Now these are decent odds"
The femme fatal snapped her whip on the ground, "You must be really confident to consider me and my brother 'decent odds'."
The young man took a stance, "Careful Lotus, I sense that he is no ordinary guy"
"Don't worry Shin, he's just bluffing"
The siblings began circling the demon tamer, who was simply standing there uncaring to his surroundings.
Shin struck first, but was repelled by a swing of the tamer's mantle.
'What the!?'
He jumped back while his sister struck, she swung her whip in a downward strike, but was grabbed by the young man.
He tugged the whip hard, pulling her to him, before delivering a hard punch to her stomach, sending her flying to a nearby fruit stand.
"Sister!" Shin charged again, striking randomly with his sword, but all were either blocked or dodged.
The demon tamer was dancing around his strikes, blocking some with his mantle, which seemed to harden to steel when blocked with.
The tamer jumped back, spreading his mantle like wings, "Murder of Feathers" he flapped it once, releasing many sharp feathers at Shin.
With a quick plan, Shin began spinning his spear in front of him in a circle, blocking the projectiles, but some still managed to slip past, grazing his body lightly but enough to draw blood.
Lotus regained her composure, she pressed a button on her handle, making the whip straighten into a rapier.
She charged at the demon tamer, who was focusing on Shin.
But stopped suddenly, her sword tip inches from the opponent.
She then started feeling cold.
"SISTER!!" Shin called out to her, but she barely heard him.
She looked down, to find a sharp spear like structure jutting from the ground.
Piercing her abdomen.
The spear pulled back into the ground and disappeared.
The tamer stepped back beside her barely standing form, he spun his body around, delivering a kick to her back, sending her crashing into her brother.
Shin dropped his spear and held his sister, holding his hand on top of her wound, trying to lessen the blood loss.
"Lotus..sister please, stay with me now, we'll find some help for you" He turned to the crowd who were watching silently, "Someone help, we need a doctor here"
No one moved.
"Please help!!"
Someone was stepping forward from the crowd, but some sharp black feathers sunk into the ground in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.
Everyone including Shin looked over at the tamer, who had a sadistic smile on his face, as if saying 'take a single step and you lose a foot'.
Shin was glaring daggers at him, before felling his sister's now cold hands caressed his face.
With her last strength, she managed to pull her body up, and planted a kiss on her brother's forehead.
Then her body fell lifeless.
"NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
Shin hugged his sister, crying over her body.
He was then filled with rage.
He felt the presence of the large commander behind him, "Don't interfere Gou, I will deal with him myself" His voice was dangerously low.
He laid his sister's body on the ground stood grabbing his spear, he then noticed that something was off, "Gou?"
He looked back at the big man behind him, his eyes widened with fear.
A large gap was formed in the big man's chest.
His body was suddenly flung to the side, the demon standing behind him.
"Awww, what's the matter? Thought the big guy was coming to your rescue?"
Shin took a shaky step backwards, dropping his spear.
He then fell to his knees, his own body feeling too heavy to carry.
He heard a maniacal laugh behind him.
The tamer walked up to him, before kicking him to the ground and stepping on his head.
He turned and addressed the people, "You lot can rest assured, these weaklings will not cause any trouble to you anymore"
A loud round of cheers erupted around him, including the now free prisoners.
An elderly canid with a wooden cane stepped forward to him, "Great demon tamer, you have helped us in our most time of need. Can we ask for your name?"
He was looking around the place at the delighted people around him, with a small smile, he replied, "They call me the Crow Father"
"Oh great Crow Father, we don't know what to give you, but we will try to accommodate to your request"
He placed a finger on his lips as if in deep thought, and with a wide evil smile, "How about.........this city?"
Somewhere else.
A Kourtian guard barged into a big room, "My lord....report from our seers"
An elder human with a small but heavy beard looked back at him.
The guard continued, "The second platoon has been wiped out"
"The commanders?"
"Eliminated, my lord"
The elder looked out a large window at the courtyard of his palace, stroking his beard, "It seems someone or something with great power is residing in that region afterall"
Back at the city.
The people were staring at Xavier, like he was crazy.
Then the chief laughed lightly, "That's a good one, I almost believed you there"
He suddenly felt stinging pain on his face, with a force that threw him to the ground, some people kneeling beside him.
Xavier looked at him with evident disgust, "Do I look like I'm joking you worthless geezer!?"
Everyone looked at him with fear, but one was strong enough to speak up, "Are you out of your mind? We can't give you our home, you're obviously insane"
Xavier had his signature look of disinterest.
But the man still went on, "Just because you saved us, doesn't make you some kind of god or deity, so if you're done with your fantasizing please leave and don't come back" He pointed at him for emphasis.
Only for the whole arm to explode seconds later.
The man let out a loud scream of pain, and began rolling on the ground.
"You worthless worm.....it's because I wasted my time saving you, that I can have anything I wanted, and this city is quite nice" He lifted his hand aiming at the pained man, "And did I mention that I hate ingrates?"
He flexed his hand, and the guy began gasping and grunting in pain, as if something was grasping his heart.
Everyone was watching with horror, frozen in place.
Until someone from the crowd spoke, "WAIT"
Xavier looked at the person who spoke.
Darius the elf mage stepped forward, "Please stop, there is no need to kill innocent people"
Xavier looked at him for a few seconds before releasing the man from his grip.
He was studying the mage carefully, "You look like you have a somewhat better offer. Speak"
"It's evident that you want a place to rule over, and for people to know your name, am I correct?"
Xavier's right eye twitched slightly.
"There is a place a few days from this city, ruled by some sort of demon, a demon tamer of your power can defeat said demon and take this place for yourself"
Xavier was deep in thought, while Grimm leaned near his ears, "This doesn't look like a bad offer, and I have an idea on what the place is and who the said demon is"
Xavier nodded his head, "Alright, you've got a deal"
A few rounds of relieved sighs.
"But on one condition" He shot a conjured chain at the mage, wrapping him up, and pulling him towards him, "You are coming with me"
"Hold it right there" Xavier looked over the mage at his party, Greedo the dragon was the one who spoke, all of them were wielding their weapons and ready to strike, "Our friend is going nowhere with you"
Xavier still with his uninterested expression, "I just need an insurance that your friend here is not simply sending me to the middle of nowhere"
Darius turned back to his friends, "It's okay Greedo, I can take care of this"
Xavier's expression turned to a smile, "See he doesn't mind....but if you're so insistent, you can come with him"
Greedo looked back at their party getting some sharp nods before sheathing their weapons, "Deal"
Xavier still with his smile, released Darius from the chains, making his way to the city gates, the others following a few minutes later.
Saia turned her back and saw the young man still crying from the pain of losing his arm, "Aren't you going to help him?"
Xavier replied simply without looking back, "Ask your mage friend there" he said pointing a thumb at Darius.
"But-" before she could finish, her brother Percival placed a hand on her shoulder, as if telling her not to push her luck.
The group made it a few miles away from the city outskirts.
Xavier stopped suddenly and released a deep sigh, "You guys are real fools you know that?" He turned back to find the group holding their weapons and aiming at him.
Greedo was the one to speak, "The real fool here is you, did you really think that we would just follow you or lead to someplace where you could terrorize innocent people?"
"You idiots are gullible" Xavier suddenly snapped his fingers, causing an electric shock to course through the bodies of the adventurers, forcing them to their knees.
When they inspected the cause they all found iron chains acting as collars on their necks.
Ketram glared daggers at the young man, "What did you do!?"
Darius being the calm one explained, "A dark spell of sorts, used for discipline and quite popular among slavers and slave traders, but it's from a more advanced tier" He shot a piercing glance at Xavier, "And I believe this is almost impossible for a normal mage. Isn't that right, Sorcerer?"
Xavier began clapping his hands mockingly, "Bravo my dear mage, yes I am a sorcerer, been one for almost three years"
Disbelief caught Darius off-guard for a moment before he managed to compose himself, "That is not possible. Even sorcerers are unable to learn such high tier magic in mere three years" Fear was slowly creeping on the elf, "Who? What are you"
Xavier fixed him, with a sadistic smile, "I am the Crow Father, the sorcerer who will take this world, and rule it as my own kingdom, exterminating any worthless worm like you who dare to stand in the way of my conquest. But from now on you will call me master" Xavier snapped his fingers again, shocking the group once more, but this time, the shock continued until they couldn't take the pain anymore, and fell into darkness